Chapter 17 | Page 8b: Emotion-Reading Technology Backfires

Dr. Muskiday tries to turn feelings into data. His emotion-reading technology translates emotions into glowing clouds. As the experiment spirals, it becomes clear that understanding emotions is much messier than measuring them.


Double-Dog Dare!

If you’re looking for something excellent to read, my friend Dave Kellett has a brand-new Kickstarter live right now. It’s packed with never-before-printed comics and is absolutely worth checking out! https://go.evil-inc.net/Double-D


Transcript

(Panel 1)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: Oh, Musky! I’m so PROUD of you!
Dr. Muskiday: You are?

(Panel 2)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: Sure! And I’ll prove it to you.
(She sprays Dr. Muskiday’s “Project: SMILE” mist onto her chest with a “Pft Pft Pft.”)

(Panel 3)
Holo-Clone Miss Match: That’s odd. I’m definitely experiencing a twenty-five percent increase in admiration.
(He looks at her as she stands confidently in front of him.)

(Panel 4)
Dr. Muskiday: (sighs) I know. I wrote your approval algorithm.
(He buries his head in his hands.)

(Panel 5)
Computer (stylized): Disappointment detected. Initiating emotional buoyancy protocols.
(She stands looking at the dejected Muskiday.)

(Panel 6)
Computer (stylized): Activating file: hold_and_squeeze_those_big_puppies.exe
(She touches her lips in contemplation.)

(Panel 7)

(Two holographic dogs appear — Oso the Pug and Digby the Dachshund from the ‘Sheldon’ comic strip— to a now overjoyed Muskiday, who grabs and cuddles them gleefully.)

 Holo-Clone Miss Match: Well… I AM proud of you!


Alt Text

Comic strip featuring Holo-Clone Miss Match (a holographic clone of Miss Match) and Dr. Muskiday (a small, humanoid fly in a lab coat) having a humorous interaction. Miss Match tells Muskiday she’s proud of him. She sprays Dr. Muskiday’s “Project: SMILE” mist onto her chest with a “Pft Pft Pft.” It fails to trigger the expected results. She insists that her admiration has increased by 25% even though it’s not indicated by the mist. Muskiday sighs, saying he knows because he wrote her approval algorithm. Detecting his disappointment, Muskiday’s computer initiates an “emotional buoyancy protocol,” executing a file named “hold_and_squeeze_those_big_puppies.exe.” Two holographic dogs appear — Oso the Pug and Digby the Dachshund from the ‘Sheldon’ comic strip — to a now overjoyed Muskiday, who grabs and cuddles them gleefully. The dogs cameo from the "Sheldon" comic strip to promote Dave Kellett’s Kickstarter book, "Double Dog Dare," available at doubledogbook.com

Baltimore Comic Con Report

Baltimore Comic Con Report

My appearance at the Baltimore Comic Con this past weekend was a tremendous success! A big thanks to all of you who came out to say hi! I did a whole truckload of convention sketches and sold lots of books. The Evil Inc Annual Report vol 1 was so popular that I’ve gotten renewed determination to get that next volume out!

I had the VILF shirts out there, too, and they got a lot of attention. 🙂

Saturday was fun. Early in the show, the fire alarm went off and they evacuated the convention center. That put the comics fans and the telecom convention on the other side of the hall out on the street. It was quite a culture clash. But that was cleared up relatively quickly. Before long we were back in and doing well.

I didn’t have great table placement. If you remember, I was originally placed at Table 69 and then moved to Table 3. Table 3 was waaay over in the corner facing the rear of a toy store. There was little foot traffic. Table 69, however, was right in a main pathway. However, I’m not complaining because I still had a good weekend. I’ve already re-upped for next year, so maybe I’ll get a little better placement as a returning exhibitor.

A highlight of the weekend was when this couple (photo to the right) approached and told me they met me at Wizard World Philadelphia earlier this year and had bought a copy of the book having never read the strip online. They have become fans and were very complimentary about the strip. I live for that.

Likewise, I sold a book to a couple on Saturday and they came back the next day — having read it overnight — with rave reviews. Too cool. 🙂

Sunday was a great day, too. I talked to Scott and heard that the Harvey Awards were pretty poorly attended. You can probably still see his post about it on his site. I was awfully sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine an awards presentation in which no one had shown up to accept their awards.

Finally, here’s a little recap of the news and reviews from the con:

Marvel’s announcements include the return of “Thor.”

The Baltimore Sun’s review.

The Cup O’ Joe (Quesada) panel.

The DC Nation panel.